


never say die

by surrenderer



Series: kylux twitfic archive [5]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Armitage Hux Lives, Armitage Hux Needs A Hug, Ficlet, Force Ghost Kylo Ren, Force Ghost(s), M/M, Minor Canonical Character(s), Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Spy Armitage Hux, The Force
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 07:42:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27709919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/surrenderer/pseuds/surrenderer
Summary: In the aftermath of the war, Hux just wants to be left alone. Too bad Ren never listens.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Series: kylux twitfic archive [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1911586
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55





	never say die

**Author's Note:**

> Originally a twitfic, posted [here.](https://twitter.com/parttimewonders/status/1329911674137001986) Thank you to everyone who read the original thread!

Ajan Kloss is so very different from any other planet he's ever known. The plant life grows everywhere, and the Resistance base is warm and damp and hidden away in a non-descript cave. It’s just as primitive as the moon itself, but Dameron tells him it's a good place for his wounds to heal while they figure out what to do with him as the war winds down.

Hux disagrees. Give him a sterile medbay on any one of his ships over this humid jungle with its outdated technology and he'd be a much happier man.

But of course, his ships are no longer his, even if they are still functional, and he is at the mercy of the Resistance. Pryde is dead, must be dead, if what Dameron tells him about the final battle on Exegol is true. Palpatine, and the Supreme Leader too, if what the scavenger girl says is the truth. Hux himself is a traitor to the First Order and presumed dead as well.

Hux scowls when Dameron tells him all of this. Of course the girl would take this from him too: the bittersweet victory of having triumphed over Ren, the opportunity to kill him himself, or to keep him leashed and cowed.

The people here view him with skepticism; he is their spy, but he is also Starkiller, the man who wiped out the New Republic government with a single command and that is all they'll ever see him as. Some crimes are unforgivable—not that Hux wants their forgiveness. He did what he had to do, and what he wanted to do. Dameron makes halting and misguided attempts at friendship, but Hux has rebuffed all overtures, wary of giving away too much information about what remains of the Order. FN-2187 avoids him completely out of principle, and Hux avoids the scavenger girl out of principle too.

But he's not alone, somehow. He wishes he could be, but Ren's ghost follows him everywhere.

"Why did you do it?" Ren asks. He doesn't have the scar anymore, his entire face softened by its disappearance. His tattered robes are gone, replaced by a standard black sweater of some sort, as is that infernal mask of his. Hux doesn't ask why that is.

"I needed you to lose," he replies as he turns over on his cot and tugs his thin blanket further up his shoulders as he looks at the ghost sitting on the chair. He's slept in much more uncomfortable places before, and at least he doesn't have to share these tiny quarters with anyone but Ren's ghost. Something about the Force, apparently. Hux didn't care, nor did he bother to listen to Ren’s explanation. He'd accepted it as his due, to be haunted by the Supreme Leader’s spirit until he got bored of doing so and moved on to some other target. It felt no different than the past year of his life. "You destroyed everything I worked for. Starkiller, the fleet, the entire Order… I wanted to destroy you too."

Ren smiles sadly; the look is more unnerving to Hux than if Ren had glared at him the same way he used to on the _Steadfast_.

"It was supposed to be _for_ you."

And Hux scoffs, like he does every time. "Do you expect me to believe that?"

Ren shrugs. "I wanted the galaxy in the palm of my hand… and I was going to give it to you. It was meant to be yours. But I needed the power of the Sith fleet to do it. And I made mistakes, we both did. We should’ve trusted each other."

Hux doesn't buy it. He never does, because they were never those sorts of people, tender and sentimental enough to promise each other the galaxy. There was no room in their world for that. But Ren still haunts his every waking moment; Hux will catch glimpses of him throughout the day, when he's allowed out of his quarters, always under close supervision, and Ren always appears at night, even when Hux has no desire to see him, let alone talk to him.

He doesn’t know what Ren’s angling for—forgiveness, acceptance, Hux’s own apology… but whatever it is, he can’t give in. He won’t. To forgive Kylo Ren would be to lose himself in the process, and Hux has nothing left of himself to give.

**Author's Note:**

> Here I am on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/parttimewonders) and here I am on [Tumblr](https://part-timewonders.tumblr.com/).


End file.
